In Your Dreams (A DahMo Fanfic)

1: Hello, stranger

"She always looks tired, doesn't she?" a woman from the Accounting department tells her colleague.

"Yeah, doesn't seem like she's from HR," the guy beside her remarks. "She's more suited to a back office job, like in the Archiving department," he adds.

Their snickers fade as they trail back to their cubicles, while I take a bite off my spicy tuna onigiri. Who cares if it's breakfast? As long as it tastes good, I don't mind.

"Good morning, Momo-chaaan," Sana, my teammate in charge of employee engagement, exclaims in her singsongy voice. She offers me a cup of iced coffee, but I politely decline.

"Hey, I made the extra effort of getting you one, so you have to drink it," Sana commands.

"I, uh, can't drink caffeinated beverages. I...get...palpitations." Actually, that's not true—I ingest caffeine when I need to put in long hours, but being in recruitment? Does anyone render overtime for job interviews? Nope. Besides, sleeping is one of the luxuries you can't put a price on.

Sana purses her lips, but immediately beams as Mina from the Communications department comes into view. "Mitaaang," Sana approaches Mina with the coffee that was supposedly mine. "I got you coffee," Sana says, forcing the cup into Mina's hand.

Mina, like me, is an irony. Both of our jobs are more suited towards extroverts, but we normally keep to ourselves.

If I were to be honest, I think being the only Japanese employees is the reason why we're de facto friends in this company. I guess it helps making this job more bearable.

"Aren't you taking a little too long for breakfast?" Ms. Park Jihyo, our supervisor, peers inside the pantry. As usual, she dons her sharp-cut navy blue blazer. Would it kill her to just wear a blouse? Or a dress?

"Relax, it's still early," I shoot back. "The applicants won't be here yet."

"Early? There are already five of them in line," Jihyo counters with her arms crossed. Ugh, she's such a stickler for rules.

It's not that I don't like her, she's just too...by-the-book. Must be the reason why all employees are guarded around HR people. I get it—we're supposed to be the bastions of the company's rules, but come on.

***

Well, that's it: another day done, with no prospects. It's not my fault that I can easily see who'll last and who'll flake when the going gets tough. I imagine Ms. Park chastising me again tomorrow. You should appear more approachable, who'd want to apply if you look at them like that? Those are some of her spiels. Sometimes, I just want to be frank and tell her that I wasn't hired for that; I'm tasked to bring in the best people, which are few and far in between.

This has been the cycle for three years already. As long as the pay's good, I don't mind. After all, I'm untouchable at this point, providing the company with resources who rake in the most money and work efficiently. I even heard some of the executives giving a moniker, The Oracle, which I kinda like to be honest.

Okay, time for the best part of the day.

***

"Shouldn't you slow down? You're already on your fifth bowl," Boo, my Norwich Terrier, remarks as he takes a shot of soju.

"No such thing as too much here, Boo." I raise a glass to him as well.

Sometimes, I think it's weird that I make my dog my drinking companion; it's just that I want to see what he'll be like if I give him a human personality. Turns out he's a booze-indulgent individual.

"Would you like anything else, ma'am?" Jihyo, who's now our waitress, asks.

"Is there anything here that would surprise me?" I ask, even though I already know what I want.

Jihyo thinks for a while, before twirling herself into a giant cotton candy. That's right, my puppet...dance!

This is why I love lucid dreaming—I'm in full control of what happens. I remember Thanos' line in the movie: "Reality can be whatever I want."

"What're you looking at?" I ask Boo, who keeps looking over my shoulder.

"There's a total hottie on your six," the dog murmurs.

I turn and, would you know it, Boo has a good eye for women. Maybe we just have to do something about her hair color.

Wait...it's not changing. That's new.

Out of curiosity, I approach this woman with the fairest skin I've ever seen and gradient hair. Not that I've tried it before, but I extend my arm and rotate my hand clockwise, pointing to her hair.

She stops slurping on her bowl of ramen and looks at me. "What are you doing?"

This is really weird. Even as I focus on altering her hair color, there's not even a shifting strand.

No, it cant be a nightmare. Purging them is anything but difficult at this point.

"Momo-chan! Let's get back to drinking," Boo shouts from my table.

The mystery woman's gaze shifts to Boo, an amused look on her face. "Cool, a talking dog!" She then points a finger at my dog and moves it in a circular motion, changing his voice into a very deep tone.

How the hell is someone altering my dream?! This has never happened before!

The ground rumbles and the lights flicker as she plays with Boo's voice. "Who...or what are you?" I ask.

Instead of answering, she just cackles.